While US President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Monday to better regulate the use of artificial intelligence in businesses, the UK kicks off a major summit on AI risks this Thursday. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is betting big on this conference, which is expected to be attended by several international leaders.
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“To realize the promise of artificial intelligence and avoid the risks, we must master this technology. There is no other way.” It was in these terms that Joe Biden presented his new decree on Monday, October 30, to better regulate the use of artificial intelligence in the United States.
Today, I signed an executive order that is the most significant action any government has ever taken on AI safety, security, and trust.
I am committed to doing everything in my power to promote and demand responsible innovation. pic.twitter.com/jCAfdySUXL
— President Biden (@POTUS) October 30, 2023
The US president signed an executive order requiring companies in the sector to hand over the results of their safety tests to the federal government if their projects pose a “serious risk to national security, national economic security or public health”. Criteria for these safety tests will be established at the federal level and published.
Deepfakes
In addition to new safety assessments, the text provides guidelines for fairness (to avoid discriminatory bias by AI), initiates research on the impact of AI on the labor market, and recommends development tools to easily identify AI-generated content.
Read alsoHow to recognize “deepfakes”?
From smartphones to airports, AI is already ubiquitous in everyday life. Its progress has accelerated in recent years with the development of generative artificial intelligence, capable of producing text, sounds and images within seconds on demand in common language (such as Chat-GPT). In particular, Joe Biden mentioned that he saw a video of him created from scratch using AI (deepfake). “I asked myself, when could I say that?” the 80-year-old Democrat testified.
Measures weighed down by divisions in Congress
The White House may tout the importance of the decree, but in reality, Joe Biden has limited room to maneuver. Any truly binding and ambitious AI legislation should pass the US Congress. However, it is currently split between Democrats and Republicans, a configuration that makes passage of a sweeping bill highly unlikely.
Read alsoUS Congress: “The uncompromising ideology of certain Republicans is paralyzing the system”
“But we still need Congress to act,” Joe Biden insisted, calling on lawmakers to pass laws to “protect the privacy” of Americans at a time when artificial intelligence “does not only make it easier to extract, identify and use personal data.” , but also encourages it, as companies use this data to train algorithms.
Summit dedicated to the United Kingdom
US Vice President Kamala Harris, present at the signing of the decree, is scheduled to fly to the UK this week to attend an international summit on the risks associated with the rise of artificial intelligence. The British have not yet adopted specific regulations in this area, and their prime minister, the Conservative Rishi Sunak, hopes to rectify this.
You should have peace of mind that we are developing the most advanced AI protection of any country in the world.
Our new AI Security Institute will carefully research new types of AI to understand what each model is capable of.
We will do what is right to keep you safe. pic.twitter.com/t212YJjyaj
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) October 26, 2023
The venue for this summit, which will be held on Wednesday and Thursday, was not chosen by chance: the Bletchley Park residence is the emblematic center of code-breaking of the Second World War, where the mathematician Alan Turing managed to break the code of the Enigma Machine used by the Nazis.
Rishi Sunak wants AI IPCC
Behind the United States, which already has AI champions such as Open IA (chat-GPT) or Amazon, Rishi Sunak hopes that the United Kingdom will become Europe’s new engine for financing new technologies. United Kingdom “is the best place in Europe to raise capital, where tech giants choose to establish their European subsidiaries. And AI presents huge opportunities for those who can control its risks,” he said.
The British Prime Minister wants the creation of a group of experts to analyze artificial intelligence on the same model as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The European Union hopes that the first regulation governing these innovations will be concluded by the end of 2023.
Already a review
However, some experts are skeptical of these big government announcements. “When they say they’re putting safeguards in place, those are the barriers that the big tech companies are allowing them to put in place,” director Alex Winter criticized Monday during a press conference of experts, lawyers and creators on the dangers of artificial intelligence. .
About 100 international organizations, experts and activists also published an open letter to Rishi Sunak on Monday, calling the summit a “missed opportunity” and accusing it of being dominated by tech giants. It remains to be seen which world leaders will travel to Bletchley Park as war rages in the Middle East. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was the only G7 member to confirm her participation in the summit on Monday evening. Beijing will be represented, but the identity of the person who will go is not yet known.
With AFP